1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to memory systems, and more specifically to systems and methods of writing data into a polymer and reading data from the polymer using an electron beam.
2. Background
Write-once mass storage devices presently used in computer systems are relatively large, electromechanical devices that can store tens of gigabytes of data. CD-ROM and Write-once DVD media store and access data through a read/write head above a rapidly rotating disk. The read/write head is moved radially to access data in different tracks of the rotating disk. Data transfer is limited by the speed at which the disc rotates and the speed with which the read/write head is positioned over the required track. Even with the fastest devices, these times are on the order of tens of milliseconds, because relatively large mechanical motions and large masses are involved. This time scale is orders of magnitude slower than the nanosecond time scales at which processors operate. The difference in time scales leads to periods of time when the processor is starved for data.
During the time the processor is starved for data, either valuable computing time is lost or the processor must perform another task, which also may lead to data starvation. Such data starved conditions are referred to in the art as being input/output (I/O) bound.